The Chatham House Rule is About Speaking Up and Keeping Silent

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hey, Grant. This is Jules. How are you?

Hi, Jules. Where are you calling from?

I am calling from D.C., specifically the airport.

I’m calling from the airport.

Great. Great to talk with you. What’s up, Jules?

Well, I was calling because I was at a meeting a few weeks ago, and a bunch of different government stakeholders, and one of the gentlemen got up on stage and said, everything that we discussed today will be subject to Chatham House rules. And everyone around me except for me started chuckling and kind of nodded their heads in agreement. So of course I started to just laugh along and shake my head as well, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was agreeing to. I had never heard that expression before, so that’s my question is really what did I agree to when I agreed to keep everything said to? And it’s like when you click yes on the software licensing rules without reading the pages, pages of text pretty much. And now that I’m broadcasting this on like international radio, I’m hoping that’s not falling under it.

No, you’re fine as far as we know about the Chatham House rules.

So this was a big deal meeting or just kind of a meeting where things were sensitive?

Yeah, perhaps sensitive. Okay. Yeah. And actually it’s just one Chatham House rule. Some people call it Chatham House rules, but it’s just one. And it goes back to the Chatham House, which is a think tank and a research institute in London that’s also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs. And this is something that grew out of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. And this organization, it has a mission to bring people together and break down barriers and generate ideas about foreign policy and try to find solutions. And to that end, in 1927, the Institute adopted what they called the Chatham House rule, because this institute is situated in Chatham House, which is on St. James Square in London. This Chatham House rule basically says that if you’re in a meeting, you’re morally obligated to keep secret the person who provides you information or that person’s affiliation. So it’s a way of encouraging people to share freely. You know, what happens in Chatham stays in Chatham, or at least it doesn’t have anybody’s name attached.

So it’s a way of encouraging people in a meeting to kick around ideas, share inside information, maybe risk sharing something, an idea that you haven’t quite fully formed yet. And you can trust that nobody is going to say that you’re the person who said it when you get out of that meeting.

Does that make sense?

It absolutely does.

And it also explains why he used a very clearly imitated British accent when he made that declaration.

So that resonates now.

Now I see.

Brilliant.

Right.

Well, don’t tell us who it was, because then you’d be breaking the Chatham House rule.

Absolutely not.

Mum’s the what?

Mum’s the what?

So I’m in the clear.

That’s the good news.

Yeah, you’re in the clear.

I did what I experienced there, and I didn’t tell you who said it, so I’m good.

Okay.

One thing to make note of, this isn’t just for the press. This is for anyone who attended, including wait staff or people running the sound, anyone who’s there.

Very interesting.

Well, good, and I can have this in my arsenal now.

Okay, well, thank you, guys.

You’ll save me the embarrassment of being in another forum one day when I have to agree on how to reach the Chatham House rule.

Right.

You’ll be spreading the term next thing you know.

Yeah, and that’s Chatham, C-H-A-T-H-A-M, Chatham House.

Well, I’ll make sure that my buddy on the plane knows that everything we discuss is subject to the Chatham House.

Perfect.

Take care.

Jules, thanks for calling.

Thank you both.

Bye-bye.

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